November 17, 2011

Categories:

As he navigated the thorny confirmation process to become surgeon general more than nine years ago, Richard Carmona's position on abortion appeared to be in line with the Bush administration.

Tommy Thompson, then Health and Human Services secretary, said Carmona's views on the issue had been vetted and told the Arizona Republic the nominee shared the same philosophy as President George W. Bush, who opposed abortion.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush would not appoint someone who holds "wildly different views than he does."

The Cincinnati Enquirer even went so far as to editorialize that Carmona "personally opposes abortion."

Carmona's views on the hot-button issue were murky at best. But as a newly minted Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona, his public record on abortion is earning fresh scrutiny.

It's likely to be just one of several issues that are used to question his allegiance to the Bush administration as he begins to navigate a Democratic primary.

Through a statement, Carmona tells POLITICO he supports a woman's right to choose — a position that that would contradict public claims made by the Bush administration as they were cobbling together support for his nomination.

"When it comes to women’s health, the political bickering needs to stop so that both parties can work together to ensure that all women have access to reproductive health services in order to eliminate unwanted pregnancies and hence the need for this difficult decision," Carmona said.

"We must do all we can to prevent unwanted pregnancies, support women and new families, and make it easier for families to adopt. This is one of the most difficult decisions a woman can make — and something that must remain a choice between a woman and her doctor," he continued.

It appears to be the first public statement on the issue from Carmona himself, and it could draw skepticism from people on both sides of the aisle who count the issue as a priority.

In 2002, the Houston Chronicle described Carmona as dodging a question about abortion, quoting him saying it is something he'll "deal with when it comes up as an issue."

Carmona spokesman Rodd McLeod stressed that as surgeon general, Carmona "understood he was not the doctor of a political party, but rather the doctor of the nation."

That falls in line with the independent messaging Carmona's campaign is crafting to explain his serving under a Republican president.

The story they hope to sell is that he served a Republican president but stood his ground when the administration attempted to politicize issues or ignore scientific evidence.

"On many issues —like stem cell research, second-hand smoke, and emergency contraception, Richard Carmona clearly articulated the best science to the American people — which frequently contradicted the political spin of the day," McLeod said.

Posted by David Catanese 12:32 PM

Tags:

Share this Article

Reader Comments ()

We’re currently testing the Facebook commenting system on our blogs. To find out more, please visit our FAQ. If you’d like to report spam or abuse, click the X in the upper right hand corner of the offending post. Remember, you must be logged into Facebook to comment.